Thrills to open dance club in Jackson Township; erotic shows stay on the first floor

Thursday

Jul 26, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Thrills go-go bar will open an upstairs dance floor with a live DJ while keeping erotic female dancers downstairs, according to manager Ira Weiner.

ANDREW SCOTT

Thrills go-go bar will open an upstairs dance floor with a live DJ while keeping erotic female dancers downstairs, according to manager Ira Weiner.

The upstairs dance club, called "Sky," is scheduled to open Friday and its hours will be from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, Weiner said.

The move comes as Thrills awaits the continuation of a hearing on Jackson Township's second request to shut it down.

An attorney representing Jackson Township says the dance club continues what is already a violation of the township zoning ordinance, though Weiner disagrees.

Located at Route 715 and Doll Road, the business now called Thrills has been a restaurant and bar since 1987, but added erotic female dancers and private dances in March 2010 when it opened under its current name.

The township zoning ordinance defines a business as an "adult cabaret" if it includes erotic, scantily clad or nude dancers as live entertainment.

Thrills features erotic, scantily clad female dancers, but Weiner said this does not make it an adult cabaret.

"This has always been and continues to be an eating and drinking establishment," he said.

Its location before October was in the commercial zone, and the township allows "adult cabaret" businesses such as Thrills only in the industrial zone closer to Interstate 80.

This meant Thrills needed to apply for a permit to operate as a nonconforming use in the commercial zone, but the business never applied for a permit and thus was considered in violation.

The township went to court and had Thrills shut down in October 2010. The court ordered Thrills not to reopen for a year unless it either returned to a conforming use, by getting rid of the erotic dancers, or applied for a permit to reopen as a nonconforming use.

Thrills appealed the decision and later was denied on the appeal by the state Supreme Court. Thrills reopened in October, again without a permit, and since then has continued what the township ordinance calls a nonconforming use.

The township is now back in court, again requesting Thrills be shut down. A hearing began in May and continues in September, after which a judge will decide.

Meanwhile, the township in October amended its ordinance, rezoning Thrills' location from commercial to single-family residential or "R1."

Restaurants and bars, even those without erotic dancers, are not allowed in the R1 zone, which means Thrills now is in violation by existing there at all.

Attorney John Dunn for the township said he was unaware of Thrills' plans to add a dance club. "I believe it's just more of the same nonconforming use," said Dunn.

If the court again orders Thrills to close, Weiner then can appeal that decision in the higher courts.

"We do not need a permit to continue operating where we are because we have never abandoned the use of this business as an eating and drinking establishment, which existed prior to the rezoning," Weiner said.